Ok so I have a paintball mask and I don’t really have the money right this moment to purchase a marker.
Was just going to get something to protect my plums, some form of Combat/Paintball Trousers, Gloves, Pods and a Pod Bag.
I’m looking into a Pod Bag and not sure if it’s worth buying. Do you have it with you whilst you’re playing it is it just laying around? Was just wondering if not then where do I carry my pods etc?
Anything else can wait for a tiny bit so I’m in no rush for it just yet. Any advice as always will be appreciated
If you're referring to a pod bag as I would then its not necessarily worth buying as an individual.
A pod bag is supposed to be for carrying pods, when there are a lot of pods. Such as a tournament team who load up a number of pods in staging, grab them for each round, discard them when loading, send someone to pick them up between rounds, dump the dirties in the pod bag and appoint one of them to take them home for cleaning.
So that's a big bag full of pods.
As an individual player you'll carry around pretty much one set of pods on a pod belt, then return the empties to the pod belt as you reload or stuff them down your top.
Mine however is a general purpose sack that I can throw over my shoulder. For me its a grab bag full of loads of stuff in the car on the way, my muddy laundry bag on the way back. If my calendar wasn't full of cancelled events it would be going back and forth into my friends van with the stuff I'm taking to camp in the back of a van.
Essential and useful things are:
(The priority order is variable, and you don’t need paintball specific gear)
Goggles
Playing clothes
Podbelt (Or vest with pouches)
Supporting footwear - Something suitable for the playing environment. Boots with ankle support in the woods, cleated football boots etc on a 'perfect' tournament field
Clean travelling clothes
Bag to carry it all - back pack if you are an organised minimalist, any suitably sized sports bag/holdall - ideally wheeled.
Gloves - - take your pick. I highly dislike the ones with plastic knuckles. Fingerless gloves are good as I like my fingers to be free.
A mix of fingered and fingerless is best - many will take full gloves and cut away the trigger finger.
There's the option as well to cut a hole so that you can pop out a finger on your secondary hand or fully cover it depending on circumstances.
Headwear - Bandanna, woolly hat, backwards baseball cap, headwrap etc - anything to protect your forehead and back of your head.
Fluffy / barrel squeegie
Set of Poundland microfibres* - Have one in your pocket with a damp corner and a dry corner - damp to clean your lens, dry to buff it
Wet wipes
Bin bags
Little mat - something to stand on in a muddy or gravel car park when getting changed
Water
Sports hydration tabs (add to water) - By using these I stopped the aching legs a couple of days after playing
Snacks
Knee pads / elbow pads - you don't need to splash out, but the best are those that you wear underneath and your knees & arms will thank you in the future
Jock strap / cricket belt - - -this is an option if you get up close. Not essential.
I only wear one for CQB etc - I have cricket undershorts and a cup insert
Gun of choice
Hopper (Assuming its not magfed)
Air cylinder
Barrel condom / Tools / spares / lube etc - could come with the gun
* If you buy the jumbo microfibres then you can make a multipurpose goggle bag.
I have a lot of goggles, less soft goggle bags then goggles, and my goggles might be covered in paint at the end of the day.
(Partly due to photography - as I get shot at a lot)
Take a big microfibre, fold it in half, sew up two sides, add a loop of elastic in a corner.
This can be used as a goggle bag, even if you do have a proper one - put dirty goggles in the microfibre one to keep the main one clean.
When photographing I would often hang one of these on my belt. I could pop my goggles in it (Also clipped to my belt). Keeping them to hand as I stroll around, and clean / when I decide to kneel or down in the staging.
